The award-winning actor - who picked up the Best Actor prize at the Golden Globe Awards last night - plays the pioneering US president who abolished slavery in Steven Spielberg's biopic 'Lincoln'.

While Lincoln is known for his strong views, Day Lewis also thinks he had a lot of "compassion".

He explained to Total Film magazine: "I think there's a great vulnerability which co-exists with [Lincoln's] strength. Quite apart from his own tough upbringing, he had a deep sense of compassion and empathy for people and creatures that remained with him throughout his life.

"It was his essence that those two conflicting things existed side by side, and they probably gnawed at him in such a way that he couldn't have survived, regardless of the assassination."

The film has also already won the actor, 55, Best Actor at the Critics' Choice Awards - as well as gaining Best Adapted Screenplay for Tony Kushner's script - and leads the way at this year's Oscars and BAFTAs with 22 nominations overall.

Director Steven previously expressed how wonderful Day Lewis' portrayal of Lincoln is and thinks he put in an "incredible" amount of effort to get the character spot on.

He said: "Daniel does incredible preparation when he tackles any role. He delivers Lincoln as I imagine. He really honoured Lincoln by reading so much about him, even more than I ever did.

"He came up with his interpretation based on everything he read and everything he experienced."